Original Rootsweb Co. Tyrone Community Site
Biographies of Co. Tyrone Men in Ontario, Canada
BODKIN, Robert
- a popular and
enterprising merchant at Delaware and son of William and Sarah BELL
BODKIN was born in County Tyrone Ireland 17 Aug. 1843. The parents were
both natives of Ireland and came to Canada in 1847 locating in Delaware Twp.
where the father followed farming and where he still resides. In their
family were ten children, Robert being the fifth. He remained with his
parents until of age and at the age of eighteen began teaching, which
occupation he followed for three years. He then entered the Victoria College
of Medicine at Toronto. where he remained two and a half years but was then
obliged to abandon his studies on account of ill health. After spending some
time in tilling the soil to regain his health, he again engaged in teaching
and followed this occupation for seven years when failing health again
compelled him to return to agricultural pursuits. In 1875 he established a
mercantile business at Delaware where he has since continued. In 1872 he
married Miss Mary A McFARLANE, a native of Canada and a daughter of
Donald McFARLANE Esq. Three children, two sons and a daughter, were
the result of this union.
Mr BODKIN is a member of the Methodist
Church, is a Liberal in politics, has served as township clerk since 1873,
is a class leader in the church, and is president of the Bible Society for
the township. In 1876 he received the appointment of postmaster in which
capacity he acted until 1883 when he resigned the position. He has the
position of issuer of marriage licenses in Delaware and is president of the
Sabbath School Association for the united Townships of Westminster and
Delaware.
COOTE, John - was born in Co. Tyrone,
the "Emerald Isle," in 1833, being one of three surviving members, of a
family of nine children born to the marriage of James COOTE and
Margery BARTLEY, who were born, reared and married in Ireland. About
1838, they came to Canada, locating in Middlesex Co., on the North Branch
River, where he purchased 400 acres of timber land, which he succeeded in
clearing, and where he lived for a number of yrs. He afterwards located near
the Co. Asylum grounds, where he spent the remainder of his days, dying in
1863. He was always very liberal with his family, and purchased 500 acres of
land opposite the Water-works, which he divided among his children. He was
captain of a company of cavalry in the militia. His son, John, was about
five yrs of age when he came to Canada, and up to fifteen yrs of age, was
engaged in following the plow and attending the common schools. He then
began fighting the battle of life for himself, and after the lapse of a
number of years, engaged in the livery business and staging, eventually
becoming the owner of four large stables, located at the following places,
Port Stanley, Woodstock, Brantford and London, Ontario. He has an
exceedingly fertile and well improved farm, on which is a beautiful
residence, and throughout his life, he has been one of the honorable
business men and enterprising citizens of the county, ever ready to advance
the interests of the public. For the past twenty-five years he has been
practically retired from active business life.
CUDDY, Thomas - Prominent among the leading men of Adelaide
Township and among the old settlers of Middlesex County, stands the name of
Thomas CUDDY, who was born in Tyrone, Ireland, 17 Mar. 1816, and is
the son of John and Elizabeth (WATTERS) CUDDY, both natives of
Co.Tyrone, Ireland. The father was born in 1744, and died in his native
country, where his wife also passed her last days. Thomas CUDDY was
educated in the schools of his native country, and came to Canada in 1837,
settling on his present farm in the Township of Adelaide, Lot 6, Third
Concession, north of the Egremont Road, where he has since resided, a period
of more than half a century. He is the owner of 350 acres of good land, well
improved and well cultivated. In 1840 he married Miss Esther TRUMAN,
a native of Co. Tyrone, Ireland, born 12 Nov 1826, and the daughter of John
and Sarah (SMITH) TRUMAN. The fruits of this union were seven
children, Sarah, John, Elizabeth, Thomas Alfred, Loftus William James, Mary
Victoria, and Esther Laura Adella.
Mr. CUDDY is Conservative in his
political opinions, and was a member of the Township Council for sixteen
years. He has also held the office of Reeve for two years, and has always
taken an active part in the public affairs of the County. He and Mrs. CUDDY
are worthy members of the Presbyterian Church, and he is an honorable,
upright citizen, whose word is as good as his bond.
MAGEE, George G.
- A history of the business men of the City of
London, which failed to include a sketch of the life of this esteemed
pioneer citizen, a man whose long residence here, and whose many admirable
traits of character, have won for him an enviable reputation, and the
respect and esteem of all, would be incomplete. His career is an excellent
example of what the New World can do for a man who sets before himself a
high ideal of life, and who has the ambition and steadfast purpose to rise
to a prominent position. In Mr. MAGEE's case, a laudable ambition has
not been thwarted by circumstances which in the Old World so often prove a
check to advancement. He was born in the County of Tyrone, Ireland, 6 Dec
1813, and is a son of Jonathan MAGEE and Elizabeth (GUY) MAGEE,
who were also natives of that county. George G. was the eldest of eight
children, who grew to maturity and was reared on a farm.
In early life he immigrated to the United
States, and settled first in Massachusetts, and from there went to
Philadelphia, but owing to the depressed condition of financial affairs and
the discouraging condition of business, he soon changed his residence to
London, Ontario, and for over four years worked as a clerk, three years with
one firm and fifteen months with another. In March, 1847, he embarked in
business for himself, and was identified with the mercantile interests of
the place until 1862, when he retired. One of the cardinal points in his
business transactions was to make the interests of his patrons identical
with his own, and the competency which he now enjoys is the result of his
industry, integrity, and close application to business, even to its most
trivial details. In 1855 and 1856, he was elected as Alderman to represent
his Ward in the City Council, and was honored with the position of Chairman
of the Board of Finance, in which position he made a faithful and efficient
public servant. Being a man of domestic habits and taste, he has held
himself aloof as much as possible from politics, but has given much
assistance to others. In 1841 he was married to Miss Mary Ann MAGEE,
who was born in Ireland, and by her, is the father of the following
children:Guy, a journalist; Jonathan, a farmer; Alfred, a farmer; and Emma
C., at home.
WOODS, Samuel
- Samuel WOODS, M. A., Principal of the
Collegiate Institute, London, Ontario, was born in the County of Tyrone,
Ireland, on the 14th Oct. 1841, being the youngest son of William and Martha
(HENDERSON) WOODS, who were old Covenanter stock, and were among the
Protestant immigrants from Scotland, who settled Ulster. Samuel WOODS
was educated at the London (Ontario) Grammar School and at University
College, Toronto, where a gold medal in Classics was awarded him in 1862.
Among his classmates were Prof. J. LONDON, the late Principal BUCHAN,
Dr. James A. McLELLAN, Rev. Dr. GIBSON, of London, England,
and James FISHER Esq., of Winnipeg. Excellent school and college
editions of portions of Demosthenes, Virgil, and Horace, have been published
by him, and have been standard classics in our institutions of learning for
some time. Mr. WOODS was a member of the University Rifle Company,
first formed during the Trent excitement, and he subsequently took a
certificate at the Kingston Military School. From 1862 to 1877, he was
Rector of the Kingston Collegiate Institute, and won for this institution, a
provincial reputation in the Department of Classics. After this, he was
engaged in business for a few years, and then, without solicitation, was
unanimously appointed Principal of the Lake Forest Academy of Illinois,
which position he held a number of years, resigning in June, 1883. He was
then, at the earnest solicitation of the Board of Managers of the Ottawa
Ladies' College, induced to accept the Principalship, and in this excellent
institution he carried out those ideas of education which he had so long
held and advocated, and which obtained for the college an enviable
reputation.
Mr. WOODS was the originator, and for
many years a Director, of the Ontario Building and Saving Society, of
Kingston, and was one of the original Directors of the Kingston Street
Railway Company, and re-organized the present, very successful Kingston
Mechanics' Institute, of which he was President. Of this institution, he is
now one of the three life members, the others being the Right Honorable Sir
John A. MacDONALD, K.C.B., and John CARRUTHERS. He was also
the originator, and for four years the President, of the Irish Protestant
Benevolent Society of Kingston, and has been a member of the Senate of the
University of Toronto since 1876. In the Masonic Order, he is P.D.D.G.M.,
having held that position in 1876, In religious views, Mr. WOODS is a
Presbyterian, and in his political views has always been a Liberal
Conservative, but seldom takes an active part in any contest. He is a man of
strong, original mind, firm convictions, and untiring energy, and since 1887
has been filling his present position, and has proved to be the right man,
in the right place. In March, 1863, he married Elizabeth, the third daughter
of William FORD of Kingston; she died in October, 1884.
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