James Newman
James Hellier Newman (11 December 1828 – 7 October 1901 (aged 72)) was an English emigrant to Essex County, Ontario. He had ten children.
Ancestors
James belongs to an English family which settled in Ontario in 1845. In that year his father, Thomas Newman, and his wife Mary (Hillier) Newman, and two children, became residents of the County of Essex, having secured land from Col. Talbot, on the north half of Lot 14, Middle Road, North — in Tilbury West township, east of Comber, on the west side of the James River.[1] On this property Thomas Newman and his wife died, leaving as heirs a son and a daughter:
- James; and
- Anne, who became the wife of John Campbell and is deceased as of 1905.
Early life
James Newman was born Dec. 11, 1828, in England, and was seventeen years of age when the family exodus was made to Ontario. On reaching his majority he located on the north half of Lot 13, Middle Road, North, and there remained until 1868, when he sold this tract and purchased the west half of Lot 11, township of Mersea. The 1905 Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of Essex records this as Concession 6, but the contemporary Mersea Township directories (1870, 1881, 1899 and 1903) and the 1880 township map all place the Newman farm at Lot 11, Concession Road 5 — the modern Mersea Road 5, on its north side at the intersection with Mersea Road 12.[1][2] Prosperity attended his efforts, and he became one of the substantial and much respected residents of his locality, and a leading member of the Conservative party. Throughout his life his religious connection was with the Church of England.
Marriage and family
In 1856 Mr. Newman was united in marriage with Mary Ann Elliott, who was born in 1838, in Ireland, a daughter of William Elliott, who came to the County of Essex in 1845, and settled in Rochester township, where he died. The following-named children were born to James Newman and wife:
- Sarah Ann (1859 - 1936), who in 1905 resided on the old homestead with her mother;
- Catherine Elizabeth Myles (1860 - 1946), who as of 1905 is the wife of Adam A. Miles [SIC: Myles], of Gosfield North;
- Thomas (1862 - 1887), the eldest son, who by family tradition was killed as a young man by a falling tree while helping his father clear land;[1]
- William (1866 - 1952; the family gravestone gives 1865)
- George Edmund (1868 - 1932), principal of the Brighton high school, who married a Miss Campbell (who attended Bruce Newman's wedding in 1941!);
- Hannah (1869 - 1893)
- John James (1872 - 1944), who was a civil engineer in the office of his brother William in 1905;
- Arthur Elliott (1874 - 1931)
- Mary Arabella "Adilla" or "Della" (31 August 1877 - 1964), married Samuel William Jackson (1878 - ?) on 3 April 1905. They had a child, Mary Grace Jackson Dunlop (1920-1990).
- Walter Scott (1880 - 1960), who was a soldier in South Africa.
Death
James Hellier Newman died in 1901; his widow Mary Ann lived until 22 April 1927. Both are buried in the Lakeview Cemetery, Leamington, Ontario.[1]
Sources
[1] Newman, Ken. "The Travelling Kind: In Search of the Newman Family in Essex County." Trails (Essex County Branch, The Ontario Genealogical Society), 2016, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 30–33. PDF
[2] Mersea Township directories (1870, 1881, 1899, 1903) and Mersea Township map (1880), showing James Newman at Lot 11 and John J. Wilkinson at Lot 12, Concession Road 5. PDF