More emigrants to Canada: Jason Oliver (c.1831-1916) and his wife Sarah (née Knight)

Shane Bywaters · Guru

More emigrants to Canada: Jason Oliver (c.1831-1916) and his wife Sarah (née Knight)

jane · Senior Member

As promised here is instalment 2, with details of the numerous children of Ernest Augustus Henry Algernon Knight Oliver and Christina McLeod. Some websites give slightly different years of birth for these children; the ones I give are from birth registrations indexed on the Manitoba Vital Statistics site.

Mildred Grace Oliver (b.1890, Carlton, Manitoba), married David Milton MAWHINNEY 1912; died 1971 in Wantagh, Nassau, NY.
Sarah Elizabeth Oliver (‘Bessie’) (b.1891, Pembina), married Harry John (‘Jack’) PILLER.
Ernest Jason Oliver (b.1893, Pembina), served in First World War; married Agnes Johnston; was a dentist; died 1941 aged 47 according to newspaper announcement from the St Thomas Times, an Ontario newspaper.
Angus Herbert Edward Oliver (b.1895, Pembina), served in First World War.
Lennox Leslie Oliver (b.1897, Pembina), served in First World War; his mother is shown as next of kin on his attestation papers: does this mean his father was dead by then?
Edith Irene Oliver (b.1900), married Raymond Angus McLeod, 1927; died 1986.
twins Annie Jane and Norah Emma (b.1902)
Ruby Elsie Ruth Oliver (b.1904), d.2003 aged 99
Vinetta Pearl Oliver (b.1907)
Lois Mabel Oliver (born about 1912 – aged 4 on 1916 census)

Christina Ratzinger, who is connected to this line (I think on the McLeod side, not the Olivers), has her own website about the family (see link in previous post).Also, on the McLeod Descendants Forum she has posted info about some photographs of this family.

-- Edited by jane on Thursday 13th of January 2011 07:21:20 PM

-- Edited by jane on Thursday 13th of January 2011 07:51:45 PM

jane · Senior Member

Well, finding those three children of Jason & Sarah Oliver all baptised in the Witney Wesleyan Methodist circuit in 1869 has opened up a whole new branch of the family tree.

Jason was a very unusual first name in the 19th century. The 1841 and 1851 censuses show just two Jason Olivers in the whole of England. In 1841 both were in Stonesfield. In 1851 the older of the two (a 20 year old slater’s labourer) was living with father William and sister Emma in Fawler. His birthplace is given as Fawler. The other Jason Oliver was in Stonesfield.

The older of the two Jasons married Sarah Knight in the Oxford district in 1857. Curiously, the other Jason Oliver married in the same quarter (to Joyce Busby, in the Chipping Norton district).

As can be seen from the baptism entry (in ‘Methodist Olivers’ thread), Jason and Sarah were living on the Crawley Road, near Witney, when their three younger children were baptised in 1869 (probably at the Methodist church in Witney High Street). By the time of the 1871 census, the family was living in Cape Terrace, Gloucester Place, Witney. The census shows that besides the three children baptised in 1869, Jason and Sarah had another older child, Herbert, born about 1859 in Stonesfield. Jason was a slater/plasterer.

Soon after this census was taken, the family left England for Canada. Jason went ahead first, arriving in Quebec in July 1872 (mis-transcribed as Jason RIVER on passenger lists on Ancestry). His wife and children followed the next summer.

On the Canadian 1881 census, Jason Oliver (51), Sarah (50), Herbert (22), ‘Earnest’ (20), Sarah A (17) and Norah (13) were in Dufferin, Marquette, Manitoba. Both Jason and Herbert are shown as farmers.

Sarah died in Carlton, Manitoba on 17 Dec 1888. Jason survived her for many years, dying in Manitou, Manitoba, on 27 June 1916. Both are buried in Archibald Cemetery, Manitou, Manitoba.

Here's what I've found so far about their children:

1. Herbert Alfred Hughes Oliver (birth registered 1859 in the Chipping Norton district). With parents in Manitoba 1881. Unlike his siblings he left Manitoba. He married Mary Ann Morley in 1894 in McGillivray, Ontario. Two children are known: Myrtle Elizabeth (b.1899/1900, m. -- Patterson, d.1932) and Wesley Jason (b.1903). Herbert died of pleurisy on 16 Dec 1916 in London, Ontario. The death register (on Ancestry) gives his birthplace as ‘Whitney, England’ and his parents as‘Chasen’ Oliver and Sarah Knight.

2. Ernest Augustus Henry Algernon Knight Oliver, b.1861 Witney, married Christina McLeod 1889 Carlton, Manitoba. They had at least 11 children (more about some of them to follow later.

3. Sarah Ann Oliver, b.1864 Witney; probably the Sarah Ann Oliver who married Lennox Whiteford, 1887 Carlton, Manitoba. Three children are known: Myrtle Vinette Whiteford, b. 1890 Shoal Lake, Manitoba, m. William Anderson Kinniburgh, d. 1965 North Vancouver; Olive Agnes Whiteford, b.1894, d.unm. 1977, Vancouver; Lenora Jean Whiteford b.1901 Manitou, d. unm. 1982 Vancouver.

4. Norah Emma Oliver, b.1868 Witney, married David OKE, 1895, Pembina, Manitoba. They had at least six children of their own as well as an adopted daughter, Daisy Last.

(Various sources: Canadian censuses, shipping lists, Ontario BMDs on Ancestry; Manitoba Vital Statistics website; and last but not least, http://tayra.tripod.com, a website created by Christina Ratzinger, who I think is related to Ernest Oliver's wife, Christina McLeod.)

-- Edited by jane on Thursday 13th of January 2011 07:50:47 PM

-- Edited by jane on Thursday 13th of January 2011 09:57:27 PM