Marie Weatherall
New Member
just hit on this tonight again, and can help people our. Mary Anne Garner, maiden name Graham as one, died in 1886 of injuries from a fall backwards, hitting her head and miscarrying her sixth child at the same time. She had married John George Garner possibly in 1872. She survived for ten days. I assume the neighbors helped John by taking care of the children when he was away, but he developed liver cancer in late 1887 or early 1888.
He considered his children's futures would be better in Ontario, and contacted John Middlemore, who ran three children's homes and took groups over. He pre-paid the children's passage, asked that they be placed within two miles of each other to keep in touch. He died in the hospital on March 5, 1888 and was buried in Yardley Cemetary, instead of the family crypt. As the records show, the children left on the SS Ontario in April, as part of John Middlemore's group. They arrived in July, and apparently their placements went well. John Henry finished his education and became a teacher, Lizzy and Emma married staying in the Guelph area also. Lucy, born 1879 married George Ambury born 1869, also from England, who had been raised in the Guelph area also. These two people are my paternal grandparents.
John Henry's son, Howard Hill, was marrying Maude Hansen in England. He was able to get the birth certificates for his father and aunts plus the back story on John and Mary Anne's demises.To keep this brief for now, John Henry married twice and had a son and two daughters. Elizabeth married, and had five children. Emma had the same number. George and Lucy traveled between BC and Saskatewan, settling in Calgary when her uterine cancer was discovered. They had eight children between 1904 and 1920, the fourth of those my father. Lucy passed near Christmas of 1940 after an unsuccessful surgery.
John Henry passed in 1950, Lizzy in 1948, and Emma in 1969. One of John Henry's grand-daughters, Joanne, is handling family history, as is a sister-in-law. We don't talk online much, but she's helped me with the Garner line. My mother wrote down a lot of Lucy's memories also.
There's a mystery to John Garner's life. I've read one story that his parents, George and Elizabeth ne KORBLER ran a gun company. I was assuming it was named Garner Small Arms, but nothing like that exists online. Birmingham Small Arms was apparently begun by a lot of workmen combining their skills. Perhaps the parents didn't like their son marrying Mary Anne. It's possible, though, that he was a salesman traveling around Europe for them. I have one picture of him wearing a suit, and the picture was taken in an Austrian studio.
There is also Emma's memory to a grandchild about them having a monkey, and John cooking lamb chops for Sunday dinners. The monkey indicates traveling, and lamb chops are far above the income bracket of most laborers. He didn't seem to be at the comfortable level of his parents and perhaps some siblings, though. Had the parents employed him at a low salary? Different addresses seem to mean sneaking away from the rent man, if John was away at the end of a month. Dislike of Sarah Anne would explain why she and John were not put in the family crypt, as some others were. I have no death date for Elizabeth either, but imagine she ran the business with an iron hand after her husband had died.
If anyone can explain some of this mystery, I'd appreciate it. John Henry's own family line dismiss the traveling salesman idea, but some parts fit so well. As for Sarah Anne's varied pre-Garner names, perhaps she was a childless widow before. She too has some interesting things in her past which may be impossible to prove, but I'll leave them for another time.
He considered his children's futures would be better in Ontario, and contacted John Middlemore, who ran three children's homes and took groups over. He pre-paid the children's passage, asked that they be placed within two miles of each other to keep in touch. He died in the hospital on March 5, 1888 and was buried in Yardley Cemetary, instead of the family crypt. As the records show, the children left on the SS Ontario in April, as part of John Middlemore's group. They arrived in July, and apparently their placements went well. John Henry finished his education and became a teacher, Lizzy and Emma married staying in the Guelph area also. Lucy, born 1879 married George Ambury born 1869, also from England, who had been raised in the Guelph area also. These two people are my paternal grandparents.
John Henry's son, Howard Hill, was marrying Maude Hansen in England. He was able to get the birth certificates for his father and aunts plus the back story on John and Mary Anne's demises.To keep this brief for now, John Henry married twice and had a son and two daughters. Elizabeth married, and had five children. Emma had the same number. George and Lucy traveled between BC and Saskatewan, settling in Calgary when her uterine cancer was discovered. They had eight children between 1904 and 1920, the fourth of those my father. Lucy passed near Christmas of 1940 after an unsuccessful surgery.
John Henry passed in 1950, Lizzy in 1948, and Emma in 1969. One of John Henry's grand-daughters, Joanne, is handling family history, as is a sister-in-law. We don't talk online much, but she's helped me with the Garner line. My mother wrote down a lot of Lucy's memories also.
There's a mystery to John Garner's life. I've read one story that his parents, George and Elizabeth ne KORBLER ran a gun company. I was assuming it was named Garner Small Arms, but nothing like that exists online. Birmingham Small Arms was apparently begun by a lot of workmen combining their skills. Perhaps the parents didn't like their son marrying Mary Anne. It's possible, though, that he was a salesman traveling around Europe for them. I have one picture of him wearing a suit, and the picture was taken in an Austrian studio.
There is also Emma's memory to a grandchild about them having a monkey, and John cooking lamb chops for Sunday dinners. The monkey indicates traveling, and lamb chops are far above the income bracket of most laborers. He didn't seem to be at the comfortable level of his parents and perhaps some siblings, though. Had the parents employed him at a low salary? Different addresses seem to mean sneaking away from the rent man, if John was away at the end of a month. Dislike of Sarah Anne would explain why she and John were not put in the family crypt, as some others were. I have no death date for Elizabeth either, but imagine she ran the business with an iron hand after her husband had died.
If anyone can explain some of this mystery, I'd appreciate it. John Henry's own family line dismiss the traveling salesman idea, but some parts fit so well. As for Sarah Anne's varied pre-Garner names, perhaps she was a childless widow before. She too has some interesting things in her past which may be impossible to prove, but I'll leave them for another time.
