Harper family, Quebec/Ontario

[rlw254]

Hi all, I'm having some issues finding a branch of my family that I'd love some help with.

Mary Elizabeth Harper was born 2 June 1839 in Norwich, Connecticut to parents William Harper and Elizabeth Murphy. By the 1861 Canada Census she is living in Portneuf County outside Quebec City, married to James Gray, a native of St Raymond/Bourg-Louis/Portneuf. According to the 1901 Census, she entered Canada in 1846. After the death of her husband in 1895, Mary and some children moved back to the United States and passed away in 1929 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

I found a sister of Mary using the names of her parents (given on death certificate, cannot find them otherwise). Margaret Ann Harper shows up in Brockville, Ontario, in a record for her second marriage to a man named Felix Thompson. Her name is not given as Harper but uses the surname of her first marriage, which I cannot discern (attached). It looks like Hume or Hunne to me but I was unable to find these names in this area.

The circumstances surrounding this family's migration to Canada are mysterious to me, and I cannot find a single trace of the parents aside from these two records. William Harper was allegedly born in New York, Elizabeth Murphy in England. I am wondering how Mary met up with James in Portneuf while her sister ended up 450 km southwest in Brockville.

There are two others that I've found with parents William Harper and Eliza Murphy born in the 1830s but these men are in Iowa and Wisconsin and I don't believe they are from the same family.

[AMBLY]

In the spirit of lateral searching - information on the sister:

SISTER:
Married 2 - On  7 Jun 1878 in Brockville, Ontario  to Felix THOMPSON, a bachelor, b England, who was approx. 10 years her senior.
hedr Parents:  Father: William HARPER & Mother: Eliza (not Elizabeth)  MURPHY

1881 CENSUS Brockville Ontario:
Felix THOMPSON 50, Labourer, b England
Margrate 41, b Ontario
Mary (or May) 15, b Ontario
William 11, b Ontario
Freddy 7, b Ontario
Martha 5, b Ontario

BIRTH of SON  : Frederick George HULME 
b 28 Aug 1873, Brockville, Leeds and Grenville, Ontario
Parents: William HULME & Margaret Ann HARPER
Informant for Birth: Mother, resident of Brockville

DEATH: Brockville Ontario, - Death register - probable her first Husband
William HULME died 10 Jun 1876, age 47
Birthplace: Ireland
Occ: Laborer
(No spouse or family names required to be recorded, so were not)

DEATH 1912 - BURIAL, of the son:
In Ottawa, Canada, Beechwood Cemetery
Frederick George HULME d 20 Sep 1912, age 39, of Typhoid Fever
Parents: William and Margaret HULME
Born:  Brockville
Late Resident of: Melville Saskatoon
Foreman,  GTR (Grand Truck Railway)
Buried 25 Sep 1912
Informant: John R COWAN, Bro-in-Law

Cheers
AMBLY

[AMBLY]

And some more:

1871 CENSUS Brockville:
William HUME 40, b England
Margaret M 33, b United Stated
Mary Elizabeth 9, b Ontario
Ellen Jane 5, b Ontario
Wm Thomas 1, b Ontario

MARRIAGE : on 23 Dec 1886 Toronto
Ellen Jane HU^LME 20, of Toronto, Spinster
Born Kingston Ontario
Parents: William and Margaret Ann HU^LME
Witness: Thomas SHERWIN, Margaret Ann BALL,  both of Toronto
She married:
Frederick Ernest DUFFILL 24, of Toronto, Bachelor. Machinist
Born: New Brompton, England
Parents: Robert & Eliza DUFFILL

Note: the Clerk has corrected his spelling of her surname from HUME to HULME

MARRIAGE: on 23 May 1893, Ottawa
Martha HUME 21, of Ottawa, Spinster
Born: Brockville
Father: William Thomas HUME
Mother: Margaret J HUME
Witness: Jennie HALL, Frederick G HUME, Christina M HALL, all of Ottawa
She married:
John Robert COWAN 21, of Ottawa, Bachelor, Railroad Employee
Born: Ireland
Parents: Robert  COWAN & Mary Jane COWAN

And back to parents: William and Margaret Ann

MARRIAGE 1860: Wesleyan Methodist Church of Quebec
Quebec, Canada, (Drouin Collection)
William HULME of HM R C Rifle Regiment and
Margaret Ann HARPER of the City of Quebec, Spinster
Were married by the Authority of the publication of Banns
On the 8th day of October A.D, 1860
Witness:
Wm Hulme
Margaret Ann Harper
John Brogan
Mary McGillis

DEATH 1899 - BURIAL: Ottawa, Canada, Beechwood Cemetery
Mrs Margaret Ann (Harper) Thompson
Born: New York
Late Resident of: 90 Spruce Street, Ottawa
Died age 60 years, 6 months and 7 days on 9 Dec 1899, of Apoplexy
Buried 13 Dec 1899
Parents:  -------------------, Margaret HARPER
Informants: John R COWAN  & Fred Geo HULME

Cheers
AMBLY

[rlw254]

This is very helpful thank you!

I wonder if the girls were twins then. If Margaret's age at death is to be believed it would put her birth around 6 June 1839 while the date on Mary's death certificate is 2 June 1839. One of these is likely off by a bit.

From this it sounds like Quebec City might be the place to search for information regarding the parents. It also brings Margaret much closer to her sister.


EDIT: I see now that I was looking at burial date and that they do indeed have the same birthday. Twins it is! Since they were twins I wonder if they were really born in Norwich, CT as Mary's death certificate says, or New York like Margaret's death record.

[RunKitty]

Margaret Ann (Harper Hulme) Thompson death notice in the Ottawa Citizen, Dec 11 1899, page 1

I hoped an obit might have some family information - but there isn't much

Thompson - On Saturday the 9th, at the residence of her daughter, Mrs J R Cowan, 90 Spruce Street, Margaret Ann, beloved wife of Felix Thompson, in the 61st year of her age.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=QBJtjoHflPwC&dat=18991211&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

RK

[rlw254]

Thanks for the obituary!

I saw that in the 1881 census all the children have the surname Thompson so I initially thought they would be children from a first marriage for Felix but since they all have the same names as the Hulme children I think it was a mix-up from the annotator. The birth dates are also a bit off.

I do think that Margaret and Felix had at least one child since a "F. H. Thompson Jr" was the informant of Margaret's sister Mary's death certificate in 1929, Massachusetts. I haven't been able to find a record of this yet.

I would love to find the family in the 1851 census but it doesn't appear that they were registered. Perhaps I'm still not searching the right areas.

[AMBLY]

Excellent spotting that Mary Elizabeth and Margaret Ann were twins! 

It's not proof, but keeping in mind that on her death cert, Margaret's son and son-in-law didn't apparently know the names of her  father who was not named at all , and her mother who was named as 'Margaret Harper'. So her birthplace informed as 'New York', may also be a best guess, or a place of residence at one time, rather that a birthplace.

The fact the HULME children are enumerated as THOMPSON in the 1881 Census, mayn't be a mistake per se, it was quite common for the step-parents name to be used for the whole family. Also the younger HULME children, would barely remember their father, especially Martha, and probably Freddy. They may even have used THOMPSON in their daily lives but used their registered birth surname on official documents.

Here is a photo of the headstone for Margaret Ann THOMPSON (formerly HULME, nee HARPER.
https://www.canadianheadstones.com/view?oid=on.324861

Her married daughter Mary Elizabeth & her husband William COLBORNE  plus two others are also on the inscription (Colborne daughters, I think)

Mary Elizabeth and William COLBORNE married December 1880 in Brockville

I notice now, that Margaret's daughter Ellen Jane is not on the 1881 Census - and she would have been about 15  - same age as the daughter who is on the Census named as " 'Mary (or May) 15". I think, this is actually meant to be Ellen?

and I think this, is Margaret Ann and William HULME, in 1861:

CENSUS 1861: Milton, Halton, Ontario
William HUME, MD, 32, married
Mrs (do) HUME , 20, married
Married in the year 1860
Both born Upper Canada
Both Religion F.C.
There could be a 15 yr old Servant, and a 18 year old male Student in their same household

Pretty sure it says MD - is that medical doctor 

Cheers
AMBLY

[rlw254]

Thank you for your input 
They have a nice looking head stone, great find.

Working off the idea that Margaret's children didn't know much about their birth father, I'm wondering how much Margaret and Mary knew about their parents. If "Murphy" is incorrect for example, I found a William Harper and Eliza Harper (seemingly different families) who lived and died in Kingston, where Margaret's children were born. This William was a travelling priest. They were married in the early 1830s and the only children I've seen on online family trees are born starting in the 1840s. Maybe they were travelling through the US in the 30s and had some children...

[RunKitty]

and I think this, is Margaret Ann and William HULME, in 1861:

CENSUS 1861: Milton, Halton, Ontario
William HUME, MD, 32, married
Mrs (do) HUME , 20, married
Married in the year 1860
Both born Upper Canada
Both Religion F.C.
There could be a 15 yr old Servant, and a 18 year old male Student in their same household

Pretty sure it says MD - is that medical doctor 

Cheers
AMBLY

I think you are right Ambly - I think Mrs Hume is Mrs. Dr. Hume.  There is another M.D. farther down the page and his wife is Mrs. Dr. McNiece. 

http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4108075_00365.jpg

Perhaps he was a doctor with the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment??

RK