NEWTON FAMILY - PART 6 - FIRE, WHAT FIRE?

If you have been following my blog, I've been tracing the Robert Newton family recently.  I believe that Robert Newton (1821-1899) was the brother of  William, Henry, Maria and possibly George Newton.  I know from documentation that William, Henry and Maria are siblings, and their parents are Henry Newton and Mary Bryan(t).  Robert Newton was a witness to the marriage of George Newton in Simcoe County.  George may be a brother or a near relative.

My last post discussed Ester Ann Newton the oldest daughter of Robert Newton and Margaret Fallis (1827-1855).  Ester Ann (1849-1933) married Thomas Campbell and she died in Manitoba  in 1933.

My internet buddy, Heather is descended from Ester Ann and Thomas Campbell's family.  She was also researching the Newtons.  She had a scrapbook with newspaper articles that someone in her family had collected.  Unfortunately there were no dates or names of the publications attached to the articles.  Nevertheless, her family still lived in Huron County in Ontario so that is probably where the newspapers were published.  That was where Robert Newton and his family had lived before they went to Manitoba.

Heather had an article that recounted Ester Ann Campbell's death.  The article from a paper in Huron County was entitled:  Mrs. Thos. Campbell Passes - Mother of Mrs. J. Patterson, Fordwich was Last Survivor of Fire Tragedy in Fordwich in 1864.   The article seemed to be a reprint of the article in the The Recorder, Bossevain Manitoba (see this blog Newton Family - Part 5) with an added paragraph:

"The death  of Mrs. Campbell will recall to the minds of pioneer settlers in this district a tragic fire which occurred in Fordwich on January 12, 1864.  Mrs. Campbell was the last survivor of three persons rescued when a store, located just north of where Wm. Wade's stable now stands, was burned to the ground and in which five lives were lost.  The victims were William McAuly, 60 years of age; John Miller, 35 years; Michael Bloomly (sic), 18 years; Susan Newton, 11 years, all burned to death, while Lydia Newton died a few days later from effects of burns sustained.   The latter two were sisters of Mrs. Campbell who as at that time in her 16th year."

Michael Bloomily, Susan Newton, Lydia Newton were all names I had researched.  Susan Newton, age 11 was the missing Susan Newton (1853-1864) from the 1871 census.  She was a daughter of Robert Newton and Margaret Fallis.  There was another Susan listed on the 1871 born in 1864 to Robert and his second wife Isabella McKnight.

Michael Bloomily (abt 1843-1864) was the son of Lydia Hill (abt 1806-1864) and Michael Bloomily (1803-bef Mar 1862).  When  Michael Bloomily senior died, Lydia married Henry Newton.

I believe that last part of the article is incorrect. "The latter two were sisters of Mrs. Campbell..."  I think, Susan was the sister and Lydia was an aunt.

The fire started in a store owned by Henry Newton.  Further investigation revealed another article in the Huron and Bruce Advertiser - Semi-weekly Signal newspaper that it was a two-storey house and store owned by Henry Newton.  This article indicates that indeed Susan Newton is a niece of Henry and Lydia Newton and Ester Ann Newton is described as a "relative".  Apparently Ester Ann Newton escaped by leaping through a window while the others perished in the house.   How sad.  It was thought the fire had been set deliberately.

And there was my link.  Susan Newton, age 11 is the daughter of  Robert Newton and Margaret Fallis.  She is listed as the niece of Henry and Lydia Newton.  That makes Henry Newton her paternal uncle which makes Robert and Henry et al siblings.

I now feel confident adding Robert's parents as Henry Newton (senior) and Mary Bryan(t).

NEWTON FAMILY - PART 5

There was quite a lot of genealogy information on Robert Newton (1821 - 1895) and his first wife Margaret Fallis  (1827- 1855).  They had at least 5 children:  Ester Ann, Mary, William Henry, Susan and Margaret.  When I started my research I didn't follow up with the first marriage as I didn't think of them as direct descendants.  Then I thought of my mother's sister Aunt Marjory.  She was from my grandmother's first marriage; after her husband died my grandmother married my grandfather.  My mother never referred to Aunt Marjory as her half sister and she took umbrage with anyone who did.

As I thought of that I decided to follow the Robert and Margaret Newton line just as vigorously as my Robert and Isabella Mcknight Newton line.  I'm glad I made that decision because it gave me what I think is the link to Robert, Henry, Williiam and Maria Newton.

Ester Ann Newton (1849 - 1933) married Thomas Campbell (1841 - 1927).  Ester was the first child born to Robert and Margaret Newton and was born in Ontario, probably Peel County.  Thomas Campbell was born in Ireland.  They married in 1865 in Peel and lived in Huron County for some time.  Robert Newton had moved to Manitoba by 1881 per the Census and Ester Ann  and Thomas Campbell stayed in Howick until at least 1891.  By the 1901 Census they had moved to Brandon Manitoba where Thomas Campbell was a farmer.

The Manitoba Legislative Library will copy obituaries from the Manitoba newspapers for a small fee for around $5.00 to $10.00.  The last time I used the service 2 years ago the  e-mail address was:
Legislative_Library@gov.mb.ca  .

Unfortunately they didn't find any obits for Robert and Isabella Newton, but they did find obits for Ester Ann Newton and Thomas Campbell.

Thomas Campbell died 16 December 1927.  According to an obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press, he was born in the county of Tyrone Ireland and came to Canada in 1857.  He lived in Tottenham and then Fordwich in Ontario.  He married Ester Newton, in 1865 and  his parents were listed as Edward and Mary Ann Campbell.  The family moved to  the Minto area of Manitoba in 1888.

Ester Ann Newton Campbell died 15 November 1933.  Her obituary appeared in The Recorder, Boissevain, Manitoba.  The article states that Ester Ann Campbell was living with her daughter Mrs. Rice in Brandon, Manitoba at the time of her death.  The article also lists her children and where they are living:

• Mrs. J. Patterson, Fordwich Ontario
• Liskum Campbell, Minto
• Mrs. C. D. Sparrow, Russell
• Mrs. R. E. Rice, Brandon
• Mrs. L. Sparrow, Silverton
• John Campbell, Froud, Saskatchewan
• Edward Campbell, Vancouver
• Mrs. Mackie, Minto
• Russell Campbell, deceased
• Mrs. E. Cunningham, deceased

There is also a sister mentioned a Mrs. R. Armstrong of Harriston, Ontario.  The burial services was from the First Presbyterian Church and Ester Ann Campbell was buried at the Brandon Cemetery.

There was certainly a lot of information in the obituary and lots of names for me to check out.  It's often hard to find the married names of daughters in families, but this article listed not only the names but also their residence towns as of 1933.

About this time a lady named Heather contacted me about Ester Ann Newton and Thomas Campbell.  She was a descendant of this family.  We were sharing information that we had found from our research.  Someone in her family had started a scrapbook and had pasted various articles about the family in the book.  Unfortunately, Heather didn't know where the articles came from or when they had been published.  As I had just received the 2 obituaries around this time I asked Heather if she needed a copy.  She didn't have a copy of Thomas Campbell's obituary and she wasn't sure about Ester Ann Newton's obituary.

She asked me this simple question: " Is it the obituary that mentions the fire, because I have that one?"

Fire, what fire?