4 July 2010

Across the pond

So, all chores done, let's talk about the Sadler family.  Rhoda (nee Smith, my 1st cousin 4 times removed) married Stephen Sadler in Chatteris and they quickly emigrated to Canada.

And there, thanks to a fairly large hint, I found them in 1861 - in Lambton County, Ontario - living in Bosanquet Township.  Stephen, a farmer, & Rhoda and their nine children.  And, as if nine weren't enough, they went on to have a further four children before 1867.  They stayed in the same place, according the the Canadian census (same years as ours, but slightly different dates) until Rhoda's death on 30 December 1900.

Before I go on, I have to commend the Ontario record-keepers; in the present day, for putting their records online and, in the past, for some wonderfully detailed information!  Best of all is their 1901 census - there's a column for date of birth and it's been faithfully filled in.  How good is that!!

So, back at Rhoda & Stephen's children - 13, if you recall.  Can't find much about Henry, the oldest, but I was able to track Abram across the border into the US of A.  Wonder if he went across the lake (Ontario) or around the lake and across at Niagara?  He married Mary and they had three children - who seemed to have crossed back into Canada by the time they got married!

Six more of Abram's siblings married, in Ontario at least, and produced a further ten grandchildren for Rhoda & Stephen.  Thanks, again, to superb Canadian record-keeping and their willingness to embrace modern technology, I can even tell you that grandson Martin Molitor served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War . . . . and returned home again, to marry Vera Dewar in 1919.

In all, a further 44 people for the family archives (so far) and much fun both had and to be had.

More soon.

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