HENRY NEWTON AND MARY BRYAN/BRYANT - 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.  Henry Newton and Mary Bryan/Bryant are my paternal 3x great-grandparents


Henry Newton and Mary Bryan family

Henry Newton and his wife Mary Bryan/Bryant were born in Ireland, possibly Kings County and came to Canada in the 1830’s.  Not much is known about them, but according to family history they both died in the late 1840’s or early 1850’s and have not been found on any census record.

According to the St. Lawrence Steamboat Company Passenger list there was a Henry Newton and wife and children listed as arriving from Quebec City to Montreal on 2^nd June 1831.

Certainly by 1837 Henry Newton was shown in the City of Toronto and Home District Directory as living on Concession 1, Lot 27, Albion Township, Peel County.  Their children have been identified as Robert (1821-1895), Henry (1824-1905), William (1826-1923), Maria (1828-1918) and possibly George Newton (1823-?).  There is also an entry in the 1847 Brown’s Directory for the same address for Henry Newton.

Maria Newton, aged 16 and Henry Newton aged 21 were confirmed in the church on October 28, 1844 in Albion.  Their address was listed as Lot 20, Concession 2, Albion, per the Index for Baptismal Register for the Mission of Chinguacousy, Gore of Toronto and Parts adjacent.

Robert Newton (1821-1895), farmer married Margaret Fallis before 1848 and they lived in Albion.  They had 5 children: Ester Ann (1848-1933), Mary (1849-1937), William Henry (1851-1921), Susan (1853-1864) and Margaret (1855-1912).  Margaret Fallis, a native of Enniskillen, Fermanagh Ireland died in 1855 in Wallace Perth County.  Her parents James Fallis(1802-1882) and Ester Spence (1803-1869) also of Fermanagh died in Albion and are buried in Crawford Cemetery. Robert married Isabella McKnight in 1857 Wallace, Perth County.  They had 11 children together and lived in Perth County and in Howick, Huron County, before moving to Manitoba.  When Robert Newton died in Elton Manitoba in 1895, his death Certificate stated he was from Queen’s County, Ireland.  More information about  Robert Newton part 1

Henry Newton (1824-1905), Storekeeper was living in Albion according to the 1851 Census, but by 1861 he had moved to Howick Huron.  He married Lydia Hill Bloomily, a widow in 1862.  Lydia died in a fire in Howick in 1864 and Henry married Susan Ghent Sutherland in 1865 in Wellington County.  By the 1901 Census Henry had moved to Kootenay East, B.C.  Henry died in 1905 in Athalmer B.C.  His place of birth was listed as Kings County, Ireland.

William Newton (1826-1923), farmer must have lived in Albion when his family first emigrated, but by the 1851 census he is living in Waterloo.  He is living with his presumed brother George Newton and his wife Letitia McFadyen Newton.  William married Eleanor Holt in 1855 in Waterloo.  Eleanor Holt is the sister of Thomas Holt.  Thomas Holt married Maria Newton.  According to the 1901 Census William emigrated to Canada in 1834.  On the 1911 Census his emigrated to Canada in 1837.

Maria Newton (1823-1918)  married Thomas Holt in 1846 in Albion and according to her obituary in 1918; Maria was born in Kings County Ireland. The Newton family including her parents and 4 brothers left Ireland on April 18, 1835 and landed in Toronto on July 11, 1835.  They moved to Albion, Peel County and she lived there until she married and moved to Wellington County.  The 1901 Census state Maria emigrated to Canada in 1843, but the 1911 Census states 1835.

NEWTON FAMILY - PART 1

This bible represents my starting point in researching my genealogy.  I knew that my paternal grandmother's maiden name was Faulkner, but that was all I knew.  This gave me dates, names and places to commence my journey.



Bible presented to Sarah Ann Faulkner by her father R. Newton 1884

Holy Bonds of Matrimony Ford Faulkner & Sarah A. Newton June 25, 1879, Fordwich, Ontario

Robert Newton is my great-great grandfather.  He was born about 1821 in Ireland and came to Canada before 1849.  He lived in Peel County, Perth County and  Huron County in Ontario and then in Manitoba and was a farmer.  Robert married twice.  His first wife was Margaret Fallis she was born in 1827 in County Fermanagh in Ireland.  It's not clear where Robert and Margaret married, but possibly in Ontario.   Sadly she died in 1855 in Wallace, Perth County, Ontario, probably shortly after giving birth to her daughter Margaret.  Margaret Fallis' parents were James Fallis and Esther Spence.

Robert and Margaret had at least 5 children born in Ontario:

• Ester Ann  1849 - 1933
• Mary           1850 - 1937
• William Henry 1851 -
• Susan          1853 - 1864
• Margaret     1855 - 1912

On the 1851 Census Robert and Margaret Newton were living in Albion, Peel County.  According to The Christian Guardian, Margaret died 24 February 1855, in Wallace Township, Perth County.  Therefore the family must have moved between 1851 and 1855.


In 1857 Robert Newton married a second time.  His wife was named Isabella McKnight.  They married in Wallace, Perth County.  Isabella was the daughter of George Mcknight and Mary Smith of Fermanagh Ireland.  Isabella was born in about 1839 in Palmerston, Minto Township, Ontario.

Robert and Isabella had at least 11 children:

• Edward George  1856 - 1939
• Robert T.   1857 - 1927?
• Sarah Ann   1860 - 1933   - My direct line - great-grandmother
• Simon A.    1861 - before 1881?
• Stewart A.   1863 -
• Susan  1864 - 1892
• Mary Matilda   1868 -
• Anna Maria 1870 - 1915
• Elizabeth Jane   1874 -
• Christina  1875 -
• Thomas John  1876 -

On the 1861 Census, the family was living in Wallace Township, Perth County, Lot 37, Concession 8.  Margaret Newton, born 1855 to Robert & Margaret Newton was living with her grandparents James and Esther Fallis in Albion.  By the 1871 Census, the family had moved once again, this time to Huron County.  They are listed in Howick, the  North Huron District of Huron County.  Robert Newton  owned 50 acres of  property on Lot 24, Concession 2.

The family moved to Manitoba between 1871 and 1881, as the 1881 Census shows the family living at St. Clement, Lisgar, Manitoba.  The children included in the census were: Robert, Stewart A., Maria, Christine, Elizabeth and Thomas, ranging in age from 22 to 6. 

My great grandmother Sarah Ann had married Ford Faulkner in 1879  and they stayed in Howick, Huron County along with her brother Edward who was staying with them.  Edward was to move to Manitoba later to join his family.

Ester Ann married Thomas Campbell in 1865; she and her husband stayed in Howick until the 1901 Census indicated they had moved to Brandon, Manitoba .

Mary Newton married Robert Armstrong and they stayed in Ontario.  William Henry Newton married Louisa Ann Mosier, in 1879  and by 1911 they had moved to Saskatchewan. Margaret Newton (1855) didn't live with her father, first she was living with her grandparents James and Esther Fallis and by 1871 she was living with her uncle Robert Fallis and his family in Peel County.  In 1880 she married Samuel Cornish Saunders .

Sarah Ann and Ford Faulkner eventually moved to Toronto between the 1881 and 1891 Census.

At this point in my research I had now "lost" both of the Susan Newtons I had recorded.  The first Susan born to Robert and Margaret was born in 1853 and the second Susan born 1864 to Robert and Isabella.  I assumed the Susan born 1853, must have died before 1864 as another Susan was born in 1864.  That detail was to become very important to my research later on.  Susan, born 1864 was not with the family in 1881 in Manitoba.

Robert Newton (1821) died in RM N. Cypress, Manitoba, 11 November 1895.  His parents were not listed, but his birthplace is listed as Queen's County Ireland.  Isabella McKnight Newton died 15 May 1913, in Elton Manitoba.  Her birth date is listed as 6 April 1839 and she was born in Palmerston, Minto Township, Ontario according the the death certificate.

Now, I don't know if you have been keeping count, but Robert Newton and his two wives, produced 16 children, that I am aware of.  I can only hope he was as productive as a farmer as he was as a husband.