May 25, 2001
Note: This message was originally posted to the CAN-ONT-CARLETON Mailing List.
Hello List,
My name is John Carruthers. I was born in Carp, son of Everett
Carruthers and Kathleen Boot. I am trying to find all the descendants of
Noble CARRUTHERS 1809-1883 and his wife Mary Ann ARMSTRONG. They are my
great-great-grandparents.
My findings so far are on a web site at:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~johncarruthers/index.htm#TOC"
Click here to visit my web site.
Noble and Mary Ann arrived in Huntley Twp in the summer of 1836. They
were married in Ireland just before they came to Canada. Noble and Mary Ann
Armstrong had 10 children. Noble then married Judith Moorhead and had
another 9 children.
My other great-great-grandparents from the Ottawa Valley are Stewart and
Eliza GIBSON; Dennis and Jane (CARTER) CAVANAGH; and Andrew and Rebecca
(HODGINS) DEUGO.
I would welcome any additions or corrections to the Descendants of Noble
Carruthers as shown on my web site.
--------------------------
Hello Al,
Yes please link up my web site about Noble Carruthers to your web site,
Bytown or Bust. Also show my e-mail address Bracky@telus.net
Let me know when you have made the change.
One thing I would like to know is which Armstrongs of Huntley came from
County Fermanagh and when. I would like to be able to find out if my
gg-grandmother Mary Ann Armstrong, 1st wife of Noble Carruthers, was related
to any of the Armstrong families who settled on the 5th Line of Huntley in
the 1830s. Mary Ann was from the Townland of Shullauny (sp?), Parish of
Derryvullen, County Fermanagh. I was hoping that I might make a contact on
the Carleton County Mailing List but nothing so far. Maybe your site will
bring me luck.
Yours aye,
John Carruthers
Victoria BC
Hi Al,
Thank you. I checked out the link and it works fine. Thanks also for the
tips on the Carleton Co Mailing List.
I have corresponded with Malcolm Sissons who is researching the John
Carruthers/Margaret McRea connection. They are not related to my family that
we know of. His John was from England.
The other tip, Mary Ann Armstrong, could be connected but it would take
some pretty serious work on the Armstrong tree to find a connection.
Thanks again and keep in touch.
Yours aye,
John
March 19, 2003:
Hi Al
I have been trying to find out who Judith Moorhead's parents were??
Judith and Noble were witnesses to many family events (baptisms etc.) for my gr-grandparents
Samuel Moorhead and Isabella Stitt who also lived in Danford Lake, QC and attended
Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
This may the answer
Huntley Township
1851 census p 36
John Moorhead 55
Margaret 50
Judith 21
Mary 19
Martha 17
Steveson 15
John 13
A------(looks like Asydy>could be a phonetic form of Ossy?) 12
Susan 10
Jane 7
Margaret 3
Shanty flat roof 1 storey
.......................................................................
Diane Moorhead
March 21, 2003:
Hello Ken:
I came across this website "Bytown or Bust" and came across some of your
cemetery transcriptions for the AYLWIN TWP, PONTIAC, QUEBEC.
I'm hoping you can help me out or give me some advice. I'm researching my CARRUTHERS/CARROTHERS
from this area and in particular I'm trying to find out where my ggggrandfather "NOBLE CARRUTHERS is buried. I have information that he died in Aylwin Twp, Quebec, but so far am unable to confirm this. Interestestingly enough his first wife was MARYANN ARMSTRONG. Any Connection there?
Have you come across this name in Aylwin Twp
I appreciate any information or advice you have to offer.
Lisa Abbasi
lhajiabbasi@shaw.ca
________________________________
Good morning Lisa;
My name is Dave Smith and You query was passed on to me by Ken. I have roots
in Aylwin and my son is presently renovating an old post office located on our
"Litle" farm. There are Carruthers farms just down the road and one of the oldest
properties still standing in Aylwin was a Carruthers Farm. I worked for the Ottawa
Fire Service for many years and one of my co-workers was a Douglas Carruthers who
was originally from Kazabazua which is the next village to Aylwin. on the
Gatineau River. Doug and his wife Zelda are quite knowledgeable when it comes to
the area you are researching and I will cc them on this e-mail.
There is also quite a large Noble-Carruthers web site which I have highlighted below.
Many of the sons and daughters of Aylwin stock left this area at the turn of the
century and emigrated to the West in search of work and land.
I'm sure that there are a great many relatives in this area that would love to
correspond with you.
I hope I have been of some help and you get all the answers you seek.
Have a great day;
DAS
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~johncarruthers/
_____________________________
From Ken Armstrong:
Hi everyone;
I am afraid that everyone is getting the two Quebec Townships mixed-up.
There is an Aylwin Township, Wright County (Ottawa County in 1881) just north of
Kazabazua, Quebec and Alleyn Township in Pontiac County. Noble Carruthers moved
from Huntley Township to Alleyn Township, Pontiac County sometime between 1862
and 1865. Most of his children are buried around Carp, Huntley Township area.
I have not found the resting place for Noble Carruthers or his second wife
Judith Moorhead, they both passed away in Alleyn Township, but they could be buried
in or around the Carp area, failing that they might just be in the Danford Lake,
Quebec area. Noble's first wife is supposed to be buried in Huntley Township, most
probably Christ Church Cemetery in Huntley.
Not to say that there were not Carruthers in Aylwin, in fact the Carruthers in
Aylwin Township came from the same family, essentially they all pretty well
came from Noble Carruthers. I visited several Carruthers in Aylwin back in the
late 1970s,and had a great discussion with them. I have not made the connection
between Noble's first wife Mary Ann Armstrong and my Armstrong's as of yet.
There were a bagful of Armstrong's in the Ottawa Valley especially around the
Carp area in the early 1800s.
Have you visited Scott Naylor's website yet here is the link:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~snaylor/CemeteryGraveMarkers.htm
Scott has taken digital photos of many of the cemeteries in the Ottawa and
Pontiac area and posted them on his website for all to view. I have found many
Carruthers on his website.
By the way, the brothers/sisters and cousins of Noble Carruthers all seem to
have settled in Westminster Township, Middlesex County (just outside London Ontario),
and they all spell their surname as "Carrothers", but they are the same family.
Ken Armstrong
______________________
Hi Ken & Dave:
Thank you both so much for the information and for the websites you recommended.
I have just started seriously researching this side of the family. Pretty well all
the information I have found on this family was on John Carruthers website, but I
am now trying to verify the information with all the various documents etc. I have
all documents from Manitoba and am now researching Ontario/Quebec records.
Ken, thanks for setting me straight on Aylwin and Alleyn. I thought they were one
of the same just mispelled. According to John Carruthers website he has Noble and
Maryann Carruthers coming e from Bracky, Co. Fermanagh, Ireland. Is this also where
your Armstrong family comes from? In any case I will get in touch with John
Carruthers to verify some of his sources.
Doug & Zelda; I would be more than thrilled to correspond with you by email or
telephone to find out a little history of the Carruthers in Quebec/Ontario as well
as finding out how you are connected to Noble Carruthers. I am a gggg grandaughter
of Noble Carruthers and Maryanne Armstrong.
Dave, thank you for the census information on Noble Carruthers.
Lisa Abbasi
posted on March 24, 2003:
Hi Everyone;
I am not directly connected to the Carruthers/Carrothers as of yet, I am only connected
through the Carruthers/Begley connections, as William Begley married Elizabeth Armstrong,
and Elizabeth was a sister to my grandfather, Archibald Armstrong, and a few Begleys
married into the Carruthers family.
I have attached the 1881 Census data for all of the Carruthers that I could find in
the Ottawa Area, it includes Noble Carruthers, and all of his children that I could find.
I have also included a separate Carrothers Census data, taken from several Census' from
the Middlesex area, where all of the other Carrothers, sons and daughters of Bracky One, Bracky Two and Archi, were supposed to have settled, it is just a preliminary document, much more research required, I have all of the actual census data from 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1881 that I compiled this document from, I hope it provides you with some of the missing information that you are seeking.
Ken Armstrong
also posted on March 24, 2003:
Hi Everyone;
I'm going to add a couple of fellow genealogists from the Kazabazua and Aylwin
area to see what they can add to this.
Ken, I am also related to the Begley's and would be interested to know if you have
any information on a book of poems written by James Begley #1 or #2. Someone mentioned
that they had seen a copy and I cannot find a copy of the book anywhere. He was a
prolific writer of poems and a great singer according to family lore.
I'm also looking for the roots of the Elizabeth Clyde who married James Begley Jr.
It's getting interesting, have a good weekend
DAS
March 29, 2003:
(Thanks to David Smith for the following):
Good morning Al;
I received this information and thought it might be of some value to the Carruthers folks.
Have a good day;
DAS
Hi David:
I went in to the London OGS branch library yesterday. They had a small bit of info,
but no Noble. Anyhow, I copied the one sheet of family info and here it is - even though
the original was very faint. They clip all the obits every day, since 1981, and paste
them on to pages in binders. There are 4 pages of this family name. Also, there were
a bunch of letters back and forth to England, 36 pages typewritten, between Nathaniel and Joseph.
This does not answer the questions posed last week, but this is all that was found.
Pass it on if you like.
Don
November 27, 2005:
Susan Colbert is also researching the Carruthers family in the Danford Lake area.
Thanks to Alexa Pritchard for the following:
In Up to the North Woodland, by Henry C Heeney, I assembled info on George,
Archie, his wife, and kids.
Henry wrote:
" Supporters
The Carruthers men who lived and farmed in Balm-of-Gilead often would walk
al the way down to worship in both the old and new church."
According to Henry the Carruthers also lived in Aylwin.
... Alexa
and thanks to Ken Armstrong for his info:
Hi Alexa,
Yes. a George Clifford Carruthers, b.1901 (son of Archie Carruthers from
Nepean and Sarah Emeline Sparks, 2nd wife to Archie, his first wife was
Elizabeth Molyneaux d. 1869) married Dora Elizabeth Begley b. 1903 (
daughter of William Begley and Rebecca Armstrong, daughter of Richard
Armstrong and Elizabeth Draper, and sister to my Grandfather, Archibald
Armstrong), they all lived in Aylwin, Wright County, Quebec. There were also
many Carruthers in Aleyn Township, Pontiac County, Quebec at the same time,
all came over from , Nepean, Huntley and March Townships, Carleton County,
Ontario.
Ken Armstrong
January 24, 2006:
John: It was with great interest that I recently located your information
regarding the ancestors of Noble Carruthers. It contained a reference to Mary Moorhead.
My great-great grandmother was Mary Jane (Jenny) Moorhead, married to James Adam
Armstrong of Braeside, Ontario.
Given the proximity of Braeside to Sand Point, Ontario, where three of your Mary
Moorhead's brothers are buried, and the fact that my Mary is buried there as well
leads me to suspect a connection.
Your website states that your Mary was born in 1871. The 1901 census of Ontario
has my great-grandmother Mary aged 29, born June 25, 1871.
I was wondering if in your investigation, if you might be able to confirm my
suspicions that these two individuals are one and the same?
Thank you,
... Jeff Brennan
______________________
Thanks to Diane for the following reply:
Hi Jeff et al
Here is what I have
Ontario Archives GS 932 Reel #74 Registration # 010795 1892
SCHEDULE B MARRIAGES
County of Renfrew Township of McNab
010795
His Name: John Adam Armstrong
Age: 29 years
Residence when married: Township of McNab
Place of Birth: Clarendon Township, Quebec
Bachelor or Widower: B
(B or W)
Rank or Profession farmer
Name of Parents: Philip Armstrong
Eliza Bell
Her Name: Mary Jane Moorhead
Age: 21 years
Residence when married: Township of McNab
Place of Birth: Township of Thorne, Pontiac, Quebec
Spinster or Widow: S
(S or W)
Name of Parents: John Moorhead
Margaret Seamans
Name and Residence
of Witnesses: Philemon Munroe, Braeside
Maggie A. Moorhead. Lot 19 Con 10 McNab
Date and place of Marriage: 29 June 1892
McNab Township Lot 19 Con 10
Religious Denomination of Bridegroom: Presbyterian
Religious denomination of Bride: Presbyterian
By Whom married: Rev. Hugh Taylor
Lochwinnoch, McNab
By Licence or Banns: L
................................................
John Moorhead received L31 11th Range Twp Aylwin, Pontiac Co, QC 1863 from James Moorhead's will.
If this is the same John Moorhead, he was my gr-grandfather Samuel E. Moorhead's brother.
......................................
Household Record 1881 Canadian Census
Name Marital Status Gender Ethnic Origin Age Birthplace Occupation Religion
John MOORHEAD M Male Irish 41 O Farmer C. Presbyterian (b ca 1840)
Margaret MOORHEAD M Female Irish 36 Q C. Presbyterian (b ca 1845)
John MOORHEAD Male Irish 11 Q Going To School C. Presbyterian (bca 1870)
Mary MOORHEAD Female Irish 10 Q C. Presbyterian (b ca 1871)
Margaret MOORHEAD Female Irish 8 Q C. Presbyterian (b ca 1873)
Stephen MOORHEAD Male Irish 6 Q C. Presbyterian (b ca 1875)
Thomas MOORHEAD Male Irish 5 Q C. Presbyterian (b ca 1876)
David MOORHEAD Male Irish 2 Q C. Presbyterian (b ca 1879)
John WILKISON Male Irish 15 Q Going To School C. Presbyterian (B ca 1866)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source Information:
Census Place Thorn, Pontiac, Quebec
Family History Library Film 1375862
NA Film Number C-13226
District 98
Sub-district G
Page Number 26
Household Number 98
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.........................................................
1901 Census Renfrew (South)
35 87 Moorhead John M Head M May 29 1839 61
36 87 Moorhead Margret F Wife S Jun 11 1845 55
37 87 Moorhead John Samuel M Son S Mar 22 1870 31
38 87 Moorhead Matilda E. F Daughter S Jun 2 1885 15
39 87 Moorhead James A. M Son S May 14 1889 11
................................................
(Diane's note) I think Matilda is buried just to the left of the entrance to the Albert St. Cemetery, Arnprior, ON
Sincerely
... Diane Moorhead
October 1, 2007:
Hello, I was delighted to find your Site yesterday after searching for so long
for the Father of John Alexander Begley b. 1840
In my research my husband -Stan Begley's grandfather was Jackson Holmes Begley
b.1890 in Rosedale Manitoba. He is living in the 1901 census with his father William
Begley in the house of his dead mothers' parents James and Mary Ann Ward. Jackson's
b.cert states his mother as Janet Ward and his father as William b. 1864, Janet or
sometimes Jannet died in 1897. Janet Margaret Ward and William Begley's marriage
cert dated 31 Dec 1887 lists his parents as Rachel Begley and John Alexander Begley.
I truly hope somehow I have found Johns father James b. 1797. I would be glad to pass
the certs. I have onto you and hope we can clear up this discrepency somehow.
Looking forward to your reply.
Kindest regards
... Cathy Begley
___________________________
Thanks to Diane Moorhead for the following reply:
Ontario Archives, Toronto, ON
F 978 Microfilm Reel GS 522
Milverton, Perth County, Burns Presbyterian Church Baptismal Records 1861-1915
Date of Baptism:10 April 1864
Name of Baptized: Fanny Emily Stevenson
Where born: Elma
Father's name: John Stevenson
Mother's Maiden Name: Mary Ann Alexander
Date of Birth: 4 March 1864
Minister Baptizing: Wm Lowry
..........................
Ontario Archives Marriage Register MS 932 Reel # 93 Registration # 11883
Groom: Ward, William
Age 37
Born: Clifford
Present Residence:
Bachelor
Occupation: Farmer
Groom's Parents: Mary Ann Fearn__?
James
Bride: Stevenson, Francis Emily
Age: 30
Born: Listowel
Present Residence: Elma Twp
Spinster
Bride's parents: Mary Ann Alexander
John
Witnesses: Mrs. S.B. Stevenson, Listowel
Mrs. S. J. Stevenson, Listowel
Date and place of marriage: 2nd June 1897
Listowel,
Religion of Groom: Methodist
Religion of Bride: Presbyterian
Presiding Clergy: Rev. Wm Cooper
Banns or License: L
... Diane
January 6, 2008:
Here's something very interesting. I've been re-reading the classic book, Irish Emigration and Canadian Settlement: Patterns, Links and Letters,
by Cecil Houston and William J. Smyth, Toronto - University of Toronto Press, 1991
ISBN 080206910X (paperback) or 0802058299 (hard cover), HIST 3500 Course at Carleton University.
This book references on many occasions, including some amazing emigrant letters, the family
of a Nathaniel Carruthers. I think that Nathaniel Carrothers may be related to the Noble
Carruthers who is the subject of this present web page. Look at the handwritten fan tree above
and you will see several references to Nathaniel Carruthers.
Both Nathaniel and Noble Carruthers came to Upper Canada from County Fermanagh in 1836.
I'll look into this further.
... Al
E-mail John Carruthers, Diane Moorhead, Lisa Abbasi, Ken Armstrong, Dave Smith, Don Irwin, Lois McConnell Klages, Doug and Zelda Carruthers, Susan Colbert, Alexa Pritchard, Jeff Brennan, Cathy Begley and Al Lewis
Back to Bytown or Bust - History and Genealogy in the Ottawa, Canada, area
