Silverthorn Challenge

I have unsuccessfully attempted to learn the identity of Elizabeth Silverthorn (b. ~1801 in England). As Elizabeth appears in both censuses and wills with my 3rd great grandmother, Leurania Green Mitchell, (b. about Sep 1835 in either the Township of Toronto or Brampton, Home District, d. 23 Jun 1907, Buffalo, Erie, New York), I suspect that she is related.

Leurania Green married Joseph Stoddart (b. 29 May 1826, Township of Toronto, d. 13 Aug 1889, Buffalo, Erie, New York). Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate the birth or marriage records of Leurania or Joseph, which undoubtedly would provide some clues. As the couple appears in the 1851 Ontario Census (Peel, Township of Toronto, Ward #5, Page 169, Line 22) living with Joseph's parents, Dr. John Stoddart and Margaret Lindsay, clearly they were married before 1851. John and Margaret Stoddart immigrated from Edinburgh in 1819 and settled on Crown Land at Concession 5, Lot 13, in Toronto Township, Home District about two lots away from the areas that would later become Grahamsville and Malton (now Missasaugua). Although Silverthorn and Green are common names in the region, I have been unable to make any connections in spite of many interesting clues which seem to tie the family back to some of the most important people in the area including: Chisholm, Mitchell, Graham, and Elliott. (So, you'd think this would be easy, wouldn't ya? )

The following timeline may help clarify a bit about the mysterious Elizabeth Silverthorn:

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1801/2 Elizabeth Silverthorn was born in England and was a Primitive Methodist throughout her life
(Source: 1851/2 and 1861 Canadian Census).

~1828 Possible daughter of Elizabeth Silverthorn, Mary Green, was born in England
(Source: 1851 Canadian Census)

~1834 Possible son of Elizabeth Silverthorn, John Green was born in Upper Canada
(Source: 1861 Canadian Census)

~1835 Possible daughter of Elizabeth Silverthorn, Leurania Green Mitchell was born in Toronto Township and/or Brampton.
(Source: 1851, 1861, 1871 Canadian Census)

1852 The widowed Elizabeth Silverthorn is living in Chinguacousy, Peel and listed in the census living with the following Mitchell children:

Elizabeth Silverthorn England Primitive Methodist 50 Widowed 3 boys attending school
1½ storey frame house 1 family occupying house
Mary Mitchell Canada Yeoman P. Methodist 24 Single
George Mitchell Canada Labourer P. Methodist 21 Single
John Mitchell Canada Labourer P. Methodist 19 Single
Matthew Mitchell Canada Labourer P. Methodist 14 Single

1852 Mary Green is living in the household of Dr. John and Margaret Stoddart along with Joseph and Leurania Stoddart in Toronto Township Ward #5 (Concession 5, Lot 13)

1861 Elizabeth Silverthorn is living and/or working in the home of the prosperous Brampton businessman and politician, Kenneth Chisholm. It is interesting to note that this was just a few years before Chisholm moved his household to the lavish estate Alder Lea on South Main Street in Brampton.

The land on which Alder Lea was built was originally the farm of John Elliott, the man who is credited with founding Brampton. In the early 1860s, the Elliott family sold part of the lot to their son-in-law Kenneth Chisholm to build an estate residence for his family c1864-70.
See http://www.accessgenealogy.com/scripts/data/database.cgi?file=Data&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0031638

1861 Brampton Township, Peel Census

Kenneth Chisholm Merchant U.Canada P. Methodist 32 M M
Mary " " " 33 F M [probably Kenneth's wife, Mary Elliott]
Mary Jane " " " 11 F S
John Green Clerk " " 27 M S [possibly Elizabeth Silverthorn's son]
T. P. Wolfe " " " 24 M S
Mathew Elliott Merchant " " 24 M M
T. B. Grimshaw Clerk " " 22 M S
John Wallace Laborer Ireland " 26 M S
Catherine Nagle Ireland R. Catholic 19 F S
Elizth Silverthorn England P. Methodist 48 F W

1865-68 Elizabeth Silverthorn is living in Toronto Township, Peel [Source: Amaranth Land transactions]

9 Jan 1865 Elizabeth Silverthorn purchased 100 acres in Amaranth (West half of Lot 19, Con 1), Wellington from George McRindley Mitchell of Chinguacousy for 50 pounds

11 Nov 1868 Elizabeth Silverthorn, widow, sold Amaranth property to Joseph Stoddart for $500 (Witnessed by Thomas Graham of Village of Brampton)

1871 Elizabeth Silverthorn is living in Amaranth, Wellington North (1871 Canadian Census, Page: 7) with Joseph, Leurania Stoddart and their three children.

March 1880 Daughter, Leurania G. Stoddart is administratrix of the will of E. Silverthorn, Amaranth, Dufferin (I haven't obtained a copy....yet!)

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I'm guessing that this all is clear as mud! I've been working on this timeline for weeks and even I am confused by all the possible connections.

It is interesting to note that in 1892, when Leurania administered Joseph Stoddart's estate, the following men acted as witnesses to various documents:

John Mitchell, farmer of the Township of Trafalgar, Halton
James Lindsay of the Town of Milton, Halton (possible relative of Margaret Lindsay, wife of Dr. John Stoddart)
Matthew Elliott Mitchell, Town of Milton, Halton (This was the son of John Mitchell and Margaret Campbell)

I spotted another Elizabeth Silverthorn in the area who married John Terry and died in 1841....so, I don't think it's my Elizabeth!

Elizabeth Silverthorn (b. September 06, 1802, d. April 20, 1841)
Elizabeth Silverthorn (daughter of John Silverthorn and Esther Corwin) was born September 06, 1802 in Stamford Township, Lincoln County, Ontario, Canada, and died April 20, 1841 in Oakville, Trafalgar Township, Halton County, Ontario, Canada. She married John Terry on October 17, 1822 in York, Ontario.

My BIG assumptions are: Elizabeth Unknown married Unknown Green in England. She immigrated (perhaps to Pennsylvania or Welland/Niagara before Toronto Township) between 1828 and 1834. After the death of her first husband, she married Unknown Silverthorn. OK, ok then....who are these Mitchell children and who do they belong too? The irony of all this is that Elizabeth Silverthorn may not be the mother of Leurania Green at all and just a wandering widow! But that seems unlikely.

Lost Gravestones

Earlier this year, I blogged about a new Canadian genealogy television series, Ancestors in the Attic and described the producer’s call for interesting family mysteries. I submitted a short essay about my fourth great grandfather Stoddart’s missing gravestones that sparked their interest.

I was contacted by the producers and I was thrilled to learn that they were attempting to determine more about the grave markers that were removed from my family’s small private cemetery in Brampton, Ontario. They planned to film their search for the lost Stoddart gravestones and include it in the first season of the series.

Unfortunately, they really didn’t discover anything new about the Stoddarts despite the fact that the film company and research team is based in the Toronto area and had access to the local archives. I suspect we will never learn what really happened to the family markers.

Yesterday, the producer emailed me:

Your segment about the “Lost Stoddart Gravestones” has been launched on our website. Go to:

http://www.history.ca/microsites/AncestorsInTheAttic

and click on VIDEO and then LOST GRAVESTONES.

It was felt that the challenge of resolving this question [of locating the missing grave stones] made the search less than perfect. However we still wanted to show the challenges and inherent dilemmas of genealogy — our compromise was to include the clip online.

I think that broadcasting the five minute segment on the web was a great solution and I am pleased that their efforts yielded something positive. I hope that my fellow Stoddart family researchers enjoy it as much as I did.

Unfortunately, the series will only be shown in Canada (starting this evening!) and there are no plans for it to be broadcast in the lower 48 states at this time.