EMELINE DRAPER

Emeline Draper is my great-great grandmother. She was born in Ontario about 1832 and is the only one of my ancestors that I have not been able to trace back to the immigrant generation. According to oral tradition recorded in the Shaver Family History [1], Emeline Draper met her husband, John Stinson Shaver, when he was in Eramosa, Ontario near the farm of his brother-in-law George Loree. Eramosa Township is in Wellington County. "Sometime in the early forties he [John Stinson Shaver] went to Eramosa, Ont., in the vicinity of his sister, Elizabeth Shaver Loree's husband's farm. Here John met and married Emeline Draper, about 1846. Emilene was born about 1830. Later John and his wife went to Michigan, where three of his daughters were born. The location of the Michigan home [is] not definitely known. John and family left Michigan and went to Goodwood about 1854. His brother William was farming there." (pg 93). Emeline and John had 12 children, all daughters. Goodwood is in Uxbridge Township, Ontario County, Ontario. For some reason, their marriage is not found in the Wellington County marriage register for the period [18]. Emeline died in 1907 and is buried in the Goodwood cemetery. The stone gives her birthdate as 1833. From the 1901 census [5] when Emeline was living with her daughter Huldah and son-in-law Frederick Reynolds in Goodwood, we find that she was born in Ontario on 4 April 1831 and was of English origin. She could read but not write. She must have been about 15 years old when she married. All of the other censuses agree that she was born in Ontario.

Emeline Draper

	Eramosa Township John Shaver's sister Elizabeth was married to George Loree. His farm was E1/2 Lot 11, Con 7 according to the Eramosa Twp. assessment rolls [4]. His neighbour on W1/2 Lot 11 was Wm Everts. Also present in the township in 1839 were Mary Loree on E1/2 Lot 14, Con 11 and John Loree on W1/2 Lot 11, Con 4. (George and John were brothers, and Mary was their sister-in-law, widow of their brother Hezekiah who was killed in a wagon accident in 1838 [8].) The same rolls and the township censuses do not show any Drapers in Eramosa. Lot 11, Con 7 was assigned by Ticket of Location to Irena Everts, wife of William Everts, as a DUE (daughter of a United Empire Loyalist) on 24 Dec 1819. Settlement duties were carried out by 10 Aug 1821 [12]. William Everts and his wife sold 50 acres to George Loree on 14 May 1839 [13]. He purchased an additional 50 acres from Rufus Everts (son of William) in 1851. The Everts laid out a village, remnants of which still exist as Everton. There was a Methodist and a Disciples of Christ church, and several mills, and John Shaver may have come up from his parents' farm in Toronto Township to work in the mills. His parents, Abram and Mary Carrel Shaver, followed sometime later, as they are found as labourers living on a quarter acre of the same Lot 11, Con 7 in 1852[14]. In the same census, William Everts, George Loree and other neighbours employed teenage servant girls who were unrelated to them - this is possibly what Emeline Draper was doing when John met her.
John Stinson Shaver (1822-1889) and Emeline Draper
John and Emeline Shaver are not found in the 1851 census of Eramosa or Uxbridge, presumably because they were still in Michigan. The 1861 and 1871 censuses contradict the Family History, which states that the three eldest daughters were born in Michigan. The censuses clearly indicate that only the third, Charity, was born in the U.S. while the first two and fourth ff. were born in Canada. This suggests that the Michigan sojourn was ca. 1852 - 1855. Also, there may be records of the birth of Mary Carrel (1849) and Melissa Jane (1851) which may give some clue to Emeline's origin. In her marriage registration, Mary Carrel gave her birthplace as Eramosa while Melissa Jane said Ontario [15].The 1861 census [2] shows that the family was Wesleyan Methodist. However, the baptismal register for Eramosa for the period 1840-1860 contains neither Drapers nor Shavers. (The baptism of one daughter, Emeline Shaver, was recorded in Uxbridge Tp in 1859 [11].) A possible clue is contained in the marriage register of Rev. James Black, who was the minister at the Disciples of Christ church in Everton. He settled W1/2 Lot 7, Con 7, Eramosa in April 1830 [9]. On 9 Aug 1831 Rev. Black married James Draper of Eramosa and Charity Armstrong . The witnesses were Robt. Elliot, John Loree and Wm. Everts. Thus we have evidence of Drapers in Eramosa about the time that Emeline was born, and a link between a Draper and the Loree family and neighbours. John Loree and William Everts were both members of the first Board of Commissioners in the township, 1836 to 1840 [10]. Could James Draper and Charity Armstrong be Emeline's parents? The transcription says 'Chanby', but the Wellington Co. Museum concurs that the name is likely Charity. If so, it becomes possible that this is Emeline's parents as she named her third daughter Charity. (The eldest daughter, Mary Carrel Shaver, was named after John's mother.) Emeline's birthdate is then a problem, but there were many errors in the 1901 census birthdates. If her year of birth was actually 1832, it would fit with this marriage. Her gravestone also suggests she was born later than 1831. Her age at marriage becomes even younger, however. On the other hand, if the 1901 census is correct on the birthdate of Mary Carrell, then she was born on 4 Jul 1849 and it is therefore quite likely that Emeline married later than 1846 [22]. James Draper Who are James Draper and Charity Armstrong? This seems to be another brick wall, since there are no records of Drapers in in the early censuses, land records or assessment rolls for Eramosa. Although there are several Armstrong families in the area, no family histories have a daughter named Charity [7]. The death registrations of two of Emeline's daughters who died in 1930 were released in 2002. The one for Charity Ann concurs that she was born in Michigan and gives a birthdate of 21 Mar 1854. Phoebe Elizabeth on the other hand was born in Goodwood, Ontario on 16 Jul 1856. The death certificate asks for the birthplace of parents, and in both cases it states that Emeline Draper was born in Georgetown, Ontario. The informants are different (Walter Cooper, son, and Joseph H. Crawford, son-in-law, respectively) . Both were wrong about the John Shaver's birthplace (one said Pennsylvania, the other Ontario, when the correct answer was New Jersey) so perhaps they are credible where they agree. In fact, Georgetown did not exist distinct from Esquesing Township, Halton County, in the early 1830's. There are no Drapers in the 1842 census of Halton County, and the 1852 census has not survived. There is, however, a James Draper in a militia roll taken 2 Jan 1829 of men aged 19 to 39 [19]. The regiment is from Esquesing or neighbouring townships such as Erin, Eramosa, Nassageweya or Garafraxa. Unfortunately, there are no other details. However, also in the same regiment are four Armstrongs, Thomas, William (2) and George. Charity Armstrong This was the state of affairs for several years until a researcher of the Armstrong family of Elizabethtown in eastern Ontario pointed out to me in response to a query that Charity was the widow of Adolphus Armstrong. Charity was the daughter of Peter Dopp, a U.E. Loyalist of Augusta and Montague townships in eastern Ontario. She was awarded Lot 8 Con 5 of Eramosa Tp as the daughter of a U.E. Loyalist by Order in Council following her petition on 7 January 1812. At the time she was "of full age", i.e. at least 21 years old, and was married to Adolphus Armstrong. Her lot was next to the Lot 9 which was awarded to Adolphus of Elizabethtown as the son of Edward Armstrong, also a U.E. Loyalist. Adolphus and Charity decided to move to Eramosa when it was opened for settlement about 1825. In the assessment taken on 29 Mar 1826 they are present on 150 acres of Lot 9 with three sons and three daughters. The remaining 50 acres was occupied by Stilman Smith, who was married to Charity's sister. Charity sold Lot 8 on 6 May 1828. In the 1827 assessment, 4 acres of Lot 9 were cleared and 6 by 1828. Adolphus died on 25 Sept 1828. He died without a will, and about eight months after Charity married James Draper, her brother-in-law Stilman Smith applied to the court of the Gore District in Hamilton to be made trustee of Adolphus' estate until their children were old enough to inherit. The stated reason was that James Draper was "a man of dissipated habits" and Stilman was afraid that he would waste the Armstrong estate. After allowing a period of time for Charity to appear before the court with any objections, the judge granted Stilman's request. He put up a bond with William Everts and John Harris as co-signers. Harris was a neighbour on Lot 4 of Con 5 while William Everts held Lots 4 and 7 on Con 11. In his application for Probate, Stilman lists the children of Adolphus and Charity Armstrong as: Catherine, David, Tamson, James, William, Phoebe and John. Fortunately, Eramosa conducted annual censuses as part of its assessment process, and we can trace in these the evolution of Charity's family. Year Head of Acres Males Females Total Notes Mar/Apr Household Cleared >16 <16 >16 <16 1826 Adolphus Armstrong - 1 3 1 3 8 1827 Adolphus Armstrong 4 2 3 1 3 9 John born 1828 Adolphus Armstrong 6 1 4 1 3 9 Seven children as named in the probate 1829 Charity Armstrong 10 1 4 2 2 9 Adolphus has died Catherine becomes 16 1830 Charity Armstrong 12 1 4 2 2 9 1831 Charity Armstrong 18 1 4 1 2 8 1832 Charity Draper 15 1 3 2 3 9 David becomes 16 Emeline born (?) Undated Charity Draper 20 1 1 1 3 6 1833 Not present

Obviously the assessments are not perfect, especially as all but the head of household are not named. Residents could include labourers and servants, including children. However, in 1828, just prior to Adolphus' death, we can see the complete Armstrong family of four boys and three girls as named in the probate document. We also see Charity as a widow from 1829 to 1831 and then her marriage to James Draper. Following Adolphus' death, there is still an adult male in the household - was James Draper at first a hired hand? Is the increase in girls from 2 to 3 from 1831 to 1832 and 1833 due to the birth of Emeline? The 1832 assessment was concluded a few days before her supposed birthdate of April 4.

Where did Charity's family go? As it happens, we can see in the assessments that Stilman Smith's family rises by 2 boys in the undated assessment (which I place between 1832 and 1833 based on the reported number of acres cleared), while William Everts' family rises by 7 in 1833.

David Armstrong re-appears on Lot 9 in 1837 by himself, then in 1838 the lot has changed hands. The land records show that David sold Lot 9 as the "son and heir-at-law of the late Adolphus Armstrong" in March of 1838.

Since John Shaver met Emeline Draper while he was living next to William Everts (and possibly working at the Everts mills), we can hypothesize that Emeline stayed on with the Everts family after the Armstrongs left.

Why was William Everts so involved with the Armstrong family, as witness to the marriage of Charity and James, as guarantor for Stilman Smith as administrator of Adolphus' estate and possibly as protector of the family when it could no longer hold their farm? It seems that the Everts, Armstrongs and other families were an interconnected group that migrated from Augusta and neighbouring townships in Eastern Ontario to Eramosa. Irene Everts was from Elizabethtown where her father, Thomas Smith, was a U.E. Loyalist. William and Irene were married in Augusta Tp on 2 April 1815 by Rev. John Bethune [21].

Was James Draper also then from Eastern Ontario? In fact, there is a James Draper in the Augusta censuses of 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804 and 1807 (but not 1800, 1817 or 1819) and in Montague in 1825, 1826, 1829 but not 1839. From the censuses we can infer that this James married and had a daughter in 1801/2 and a son in 1803/4. By 1807 he had another daughter. In Montague the family composition is confusing as it drops from 10 (1825) to 6 (1826) and to 4 (1829). This James is likely too old to be Charity's husband, but his eldest son might be.

REFERENCES

[1] Frederick Howell Shaver, Frederick Shaver and his Descendants, private typescript, c. 1943. pg. 99

[2] 1861 Census of Ontario, Uxbridge Twp., Dist 4, pg 45. Not found in agricultural census.

[3] 1871 Census of Ontario, Uxbridge Twp., Dist A-3, pg 23.

[4] Census and Assessment Rolls of Eramosa Twp., Gore District, 1825 - 1840. OGS Library, MS 700 Reel 1.

[5] 1901 Census of Ontario, Uxbridge Twp., Dist 2, pg 8.

[6] Marriage Register of Rev. Black, 1828-1842, Districts of Gore and Niagara, Gore District - Book One. Wellington Co. Museum and Archives.

[7] Armstrong Family History file, Wellington County Archives.

[8] Loree Family History file, Wellington County Archives.

[9] Rueben Butchart, Old Everton and the Pioneer Movement Amongst the Disciples of Christ in Eramosa Tp, Upper Canada from 1830. (Toronto: pub by compiler, 1941). Wellington County Archives 960.16.3

[10] Frank Day, Here and There in Eramosa (Rockwood: 1953). Wellington County Archives A990.74

[11] Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Registers, Vol 2, pg 228.

[12] Eramosa Township Papers, Con 7, Lot 11. Ontario Archives MS 658, Reel 134.

[13] Eramosa Township Abstract Index to Deeds, Ontario Archives GS 3113.

[14] 1851 Census, Eramosa Tp, C-11756, pg 9; also Agric Census, pg 103, line 16. Abram and Mary Carrel's religion was given as Methodist New Connection.

[15] Mary Carrel Shaver marriage registration Vol 5, pg 281; Ontario Archives MS-932, Reel 2

       Melissa Jane Shaver marriage registration Vol 28, pg 278; Ontario Archives MS-932, Reel 8

[16] 1881 Uxbridge Tp, Dist A-1, pg 3; reel C-13244

[17] Charity Ann Baston death registration 27315-30; Ontario Archives MS-935, Reel 396

       Phoebe Elizabeth Cooper death registration 27008-30; Ontario Archives MS-935, Reel 396

[18] District of Wellington Register of Marriages, June 1840 - July 1849. Original in Wellington County Archives, A996.92 Series 1 Subseries 1.

[19] Bruce S. Elliott, Dan Walker and Fawne Stratford-Devai (eds), Men of Upper Canada - Militia Nominal Rolls 1828-1829, Ontario Genealogical Society (Toronto), 1995

[20] Ontario Surrogate Court Records 1793-1858, Ontario Archives RG 22 Appendix A25. Armstrong, Adolphus, Wentworth #150, 1832. MS 638 Reel 3

[21] Parish Register of Brockville and Vicinity 1814 - 1830. Published in the ONTARIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY Papers and Records, Volume 38, (Toronto, 1946), Pages 77-108.

[22] 1901 Census of Ontario; Toronto East a-10 page 15

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