Background
I am researching a family which resided in Sidney Township, Hastings County, Ontario during the 1800s. I believe that several members of this family are buried in the Stone Church Cemetery on the Vermilyea Road in the former Sidney Township. The family name is “Patterson“.
John and Jane Patterson
A tombstone still exists in reasonably good condition for John Patterson who died on 21 June 1869 at an age of 68 years, 8 months and 21 days. Assuming this age at death is accurate, John Patterson could be estimated to have been born on 31 September 1800. There is also a tombstone for Jane Patterson, identified on the stone as the wife of John Patterson, who died on 28 January 1864. At the time of her death the the tombstone notes her age as 65 years and 3 months. Her estimated date of birth would be some time about October 1798.
George W. Patterson
There is also an excellent stone for George W. Patterson who died 31 May 1902 at an age of 72 years. George’s estimated birth year would be 1830. George’s birth date is confirmed by the 1901 Census of Canada as 10 March 1830. The 1901 Census of Canada indicates that George is widowed and living with his son Nathan Patterson in Sidney Township, Hastings County, Ontario. The 1851 Census of Canada West notes George W. Patterson living with the family of John Patterson and his wife Jane Patterson and George’s sister, Mary Ann Patterson. The 1871 Census of Canada shows George living in Sidney Township together with his wife Eliza Jane (Menzies), aged 28, and his son Nathan Patterson, aged 4. George’s marriage registration indicates that he had married Elizabeth Jane Menzies on 23 March 1865 and that his parents were listed as John and Maribeth Patterson. The 1881 Census of Canada shows George, still living in Sidney Township, together with his son Nathan, who is now 14, and stating that George is married but there is no wife included on the census. Similar details are presented in the 1891 Census of Canada which notes George is living in Thurlow Township, Hastings County, Ontario with his son Nathan Patterson who is now 24 and confirming that George’s marital status is still “married” but not naming his wife on the census. In 1901 Census of Canada again presents a similar picture of George, now 71 years of age, living with his son Nathan Patterson, who is now 34 years old, in Sidney Township, Hastings County, Ontario, although George W. Patterson is now described as “widowed”, suggesting that the wife which frequently did not appear in the census records has now died. Ontario “death registration” #011620 notes that George Patterson died on 31 May 1902 at the age of 73 years resident on lot 32, concession 6 of Sidney Township, Hastings County, Ontario. The cemetery plot plan for the Stone Church Cemetery shows George Patterson buried in close proximity to John Patterson, Mrs. J. Patterson and two other “individuals of interest” which shall be explored in the following text. Elizabeth Jane Menzies does not appear to be buried in the Stone Church Cemetery.
Mary Ann Patterson
The 1851 Census of Canada West shows four members of the Patterson family. John Patterson (52), Jane Patterson (54), George W. Patterson (22) and Mary Ann Patterson (15). [Note: ages are as of next birthday] Although no family relationships are clearly identified in the census, it is assumed that Mary Ann Patterson is a daughter to John and Jane and a sister to George. The 1861 Census of Canada West for Sidney Township is unreadable, and therefore any pertinent information is for the moment lost. By the time of the 1871 Census of Canada, John and Jane Patterson are deceased and both George and Mary Ann appear to be married and on their own. Some Internet sources suggest that Mary Ann Patterson married Benjamin F. Foster. County Marriage Registers show Benjamin F. Foster (26) marrying M. A. Patterson (24) on 14 February 1861 in Sidney Township. M. A. Patterson’s age is consistent with that of Mary Ann Patterson and her father is noted as John. This researcher believes that this evidence strongly points to the fact that Mary Ann Patterson married Benjamin F. Foster in 1861. [Note: The “Death Roll” published in the Daily Intelligencer newspaper on 7 January 1899 notes the death of a Benjamin Foster on 7 February 1898.]
This is where the plot “gets interesting” and we leave the realm of proven fact.
In 1983 a transcription team from the Ontario Genealogical Society created a written record from the visible tombstones in the Stone Church Cemetery. They found that a relatively large number of the tombstones had either fallen or been knocked down over the years and many had been dragged from their original location to lie flat and abandoned along the west and north boundaries of the cemetery. In several cases tombstones were stacked upon other tombstones while others were broken or badly worn. I found the same situation when I visited the cemetery at least six times in 2018 during my research. In 1983 the OGS transcription team identified a badly-worn or partially obscured tombstone in a fence row and transcribed it as follows: I.M.O. Mary Ann, w/o B.E. Foster and only d/o __ __ __ __ & Elizabeth Henderson, __ __ __ 25, 186 (2?) aged 25 years, 20 days. [Note: The Intelligencer newspaper in Belleville, Ontario published a death announcement on 21 March 1862 for a Mary Ann (Patterson) Foster noting her date of death as 25 February 1862.] I believe that, under such unfavourable conditions as were faced by the OGS transcription team in 1983, to transcribe this tombstone a couple of errors were made. I think that B.E. Foster is actually B.F. Foster, that the blanks for the father’s name represent John and that the mother’s name, Elizabeth Henderson, may actually be Elizabeth or Maribeth Patterson. [Note: In the County Marriage Register, when George W. Patterson marries Elizabeth Jane Menzies, George’s father is identified as John and his mother as Maribeth. I have viewed the original County Marriage Register document and the name originally written there certainly looks more like Maribeth than Elizabeth. Perhaps Elizabeth was incorrectly entered into the County Marriage Register as Maribeth.] I have puzzled over this poor discarded tombstone for a couple of years and would have ignored it except that on the cemetery plot plan the Patterson graves line up from south to north as John Patterson, Mrs. J. Patterson, Elmira Caverly (assumed to be an artifact of the written plan itself, as her actual physical tombstone does not line up with the other graves), George Patterson, B.F. Foster and Mary Anderson (assumed that correctly entered would be Mary Patterson). One has to take the physical locations on this cemetery plot plan “with a grain of salt”. I have studied the physical layout of the tombstones firsthand and have found several instances where the cemetery plot plan oversimplifies the arrangement of the graves. I also note that over 150 years of burials in this cemetery are represented on the cemetery plot plan in handwriting easily identified as belonging to a single individual using the same writing instrument. It is quite obvious that my copy of the cemetery plot plan is a transcription from whatever records may have been kept over the intervening years.
Burden of Proof
Is all of this a “stretch”? For sure, but it does provide some interesting hypotheses to some fundamental questions. Personally, based on my experience, this is the most likely scenario to explain the mystery “ladies” – Mary Ann, wife of B.E. Foster, on the discarded tombstone and Mary Anderson, on the cemetery plot plan buried next to B.F. Foster in close proximity to the other Patterson burials.
Gallery
Wedding of George W. Patterson and Eliza Jane Menzies (23 March 1865)
Wedding of Mary Ann Patterson and Benjamin Foster (14 February 1861)
Edgar P. Foster (4 Jun 1923)
Is this a son of Benjamin Foster and Mary Ann (Patterson) Foster, born the same year Mary Ann died? If so, did Mary Ann (Patterson) Foster die in childbirth?
Benjamin Foster
On 7 February 1898 a death is recorded for a Benjamin Foster aged 82 in the Daily Intelligencer newspaper published in Belleville on 7 January 1899 in the annual “Death Roll” for 1898. Is this the Benjamin F. Foster who married Mary Ann Patterson?
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