Nicol
Family
History

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Other children of Alexander Nicol and Margaret Forsyth: David-1795,
William-1796, Janet-c1798, Christian "Cursty"-1799, Heneretta,
James-1807, Margaret-1811, Isabella-1814 and Charles-1817.

Christiana Nicoll (1851-1892)

Born Dummer Township, Ontario, Canada
Died Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
Great Grand Daughter of David Nicol & Janet Bremner.

Christiana Nicoll was born June 17, 1851, the youngest of the 11 children born to Alexander Nicoll and Lydia Bain after they moved from Scotland to Canada to farm the uncleared land of Dummer Township in central Ontario. Christiana married Robert Henry McConnell on January 20, 1873.

From age 22 to 33, she lived the hard life of a farmer's wife while giving birth to eight children. Then it gets really sad. Walter, her 8th child, was born right after Christmas in her 36th year; he died the next July. Seven months later her five-year-old Annetta died. Baby Carl was born October 1891, right after Christiana turned 40, but died within two months. Just before her 41st birthday, she was diagnosed with consumption and died six months later in Peterborough, the city, having been in a sanitorium away from her children for several months. Her husband never remarried. The photo here was taken after her death in 1892.

What became of Christiana's eight surviving children? The two oldest girls married and stayed in the Norwood, Ontario area; they were May McConnell Brown Hamblin (1875-1969) and Annie McConnell Buck (1881-1960). The younger two sons --Willie (1878-1942) and George (1880-1926))-- moved to Detroit to work in the auto industry and still have many descendants there. Her older two sons -- Fred (1873-1953) and Jim (1877-1970)-- went out west to SK and eventually BC. You can read Jim McConnell's Autobiography here. The youngest, Edith, moved to the Buffalo NY area...

The Robert McConnell-Christiana Nicoll Family:
In front is Robert McConnell. 1st row: Fred, Annie, Edith McConnell Brown, and George McConnell.
Back row: Bill, May, and Jim McConnell

Edith Louisa McConnell & John Howard Brown

Edith Lousia McConnell

Edith Lousia McConnell was born in Norwood, Ontario, Canada in 1884, just before her mother, Christiana Nicoll's, sad times were beginning, although she never mentioned anything about it to us. When asked about her family, she would just say she was Scottish. From my recent research, the rest of her family came from Ireland, so she must have counted that Nicol blood highly.

In March of 1907, Edith was married to John Howard Brown, in Norwood, Ontario. (He was a local farmer descended from the Postlethwaite family on the Isle of Man.) Their three children were Fleeta Barbara Brown French (1908-2001), Willena Mayvarette Brown Demler (1909-1999), and John Raymond Brown (1911-1999).

In 1923, the family moved to the Buffalo area of  New York State, USA, in hopes that John Howard Brown could earn a better living farming there. Edith McConnell Brown was the classic sweet and round grandmother and a very good church lady. I remember her always taking meals to sick people and reading us letters from her relatives in Canada.

    § Contributed by Kathleen Brown Hay, Christiana's Great Granddaughter - USA 2007

ALL Links to the Line of
Alexander Nicol (1767-1855) & Margaret Forsyth:

Christina (Cursty) Nicol

Heneretta Nicol (b 1846) & Andrew MacKenzie

Alexander Nicol (b circa 1860) & Jane Urquhart

Margaret Nicol (b 1811) & Alexander Corbet ---> Australia

Alexander Nicoll (b 1802) & Lydia Bain ---> North America

Ann Nicoll (b 1839) & James Dinsdale

William Nicoll & Emma Swindlehurst

Christiana Nicoll (b 1851) & Robert McConnell

Nicol Home Page: David Nicol & Janet Bremner

Wendy's Genealogy Website with McBain/McBean  -  McKay  -  MacLeod  -  Brownson  -  Paterson Family Histories   Plus Inverness & The Black Isle

©Wendy Margaret Brindle

With contributions from Nicol relatives around the world, this research was compiled/researched
by Wendy McBain Brindle for the July 2007 Clan Reunion in Inverness.
For corrections or additions, email webmaster: Kathleen AT haymountain.com.
Research & typographical errors may be found on this site.