GEORGE MCKNIGHT AND MARY SMITH - CANADA PROJECT 150

First Published in the Halton-Peel  Branch of the Ontario Genealogy Society Newsletter - Special Edition Halton-Peel KINections - Canada 150 Project - July 2017

The Halton-Peel Branch of the Ontario Genealogy Society invited members to share stories about ancestors who lived in Canada at the time of confederation in 1867.  George McKnight and Mary Smith are my paternal 3x great grandparents

George McKnight and Mary Smith Family

George McKnight (abt 1817-1884) was born in Fermanagh Ireland and came to Canada about 1836.  According to his wife Mary Smith McKnight’s (abt 1821-1909) obituary, George McKnight married Mary Smith in 1835 in Enniskillen, Fermanagh Ireland and they emigrated to Toronto, Ontario. The obituary is probably from the Listowel Standard, Perth County, dated May 28, 1909.  The obituary states:   "...and settled in Toronto, where Mr. Mcknight engaged in the mercantile business for two years.  From there they moved to Albion Township and followed farming until 1854.   In that year they moved into Minto Township, Wellington County......"

Other researchers have quoted an autobiography by a Fermanagh Patterson Rutherford that claims the business that George McKnight operated was a Dry Goods Store near the Eaton's store on Yonge Street in Toronto.  There was a listing for a McKnight and Saxon listed as Wholesale Merchants in the 1837 Toronto & Home District Directory.  The address is simply Yonge Street, Toronto.  This was a business listing and I have not found a home address for the McKnight family, so possibly they lived above the store.  There was no listing for Mr. Saxon either.  Certainly looking at other businesses in the area, in this time frame, the dry goods stores seemed to be on Yonge Street north from King Street. 

If Mary Smith McKnight’s obituary is correct, the family moved to Peel County by 1839.  Certainly the family was listed in Albion on the 1851 Census.  According to the book The Way it was:  a History of Minto, George McKnight was one of the original landowners of Minto Township, Wellington County and purchased Lots 41 and 42 on Concession 1.  The land sale is recorded as September 10 and 11, 1854. 

George’s parents James and Ann/Hannah Colwell Mcknight and George’s siblings also came to Albion around the same time.  The 1846-1847 Brown’s Toronto City and Home Directory shows a James McKnight living at Concession 3, Lot 29 in Albion, Peel County.  It is possible George and his family lived with his parents until he moved to Wellington County.

George and Mary had at least ten children: Isabella (1839-1913), Anne Jane (1841-1894), Margaret (1843-1920), Sarah (1847-1929), John (1847-1911), James (1850-1931) born in Albion, Peel County.  George (1857-1936), Mary (1861-1938), Elizabeth (1862-1867) and Samuel (1865-1957) were born in Wellington County.  

Sarah McKnight was baptized August 19, 1849 in Albion and she was born in Albion on January 6, 1847 according to the Wesleyan Baptism Register.  This is the first documented proof that the family lived in Albion.

Mary Smith and George McKnight - unknown source

George and Mary and their children Isabella, Anne Jane, Margaret, Sarah, John and James are all listed on the 1852 Census living in Albion.  As their daughter Isabella was born in 1839, it is possible the family was living in Albion as early as 1839; however there is no documentation to support this information.